Scary Video Shows Tesla Driver Fall Asleep While Driving; Is Autopilot to Blame?
A Tesla driver was recently filmed sleeping in his moving car and the footage has rekindled a long standing debate on autonomous or self-driving systems. The video, now going viral on Twitter, clearly shows both the occupants in the car sleeping while the car moves on its own on a highway.
The video was shared by twitter user Dakota Randall, who also put up a caption reading, "Some guy literally asleep at the wheel on the Mass Pike (great place for it). Teslas are sick, I guess?"
The incident was just as shocking for Randall, who further added, "It was just so strange and baffling. I thought I saw somebody asleep at the wheel, but I wasn¡¯t sure so I did a double-take. Sure enough, there was somebody with his head right between his legs."
Some guy literally asleep at the wheel on the Mass Pike (great place for it).
¡ª Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) September 8, 2019
Teslas are sick, I guess? pic.twitter.com/ARSpj1rbVn
In the video, the Tesla driver can be clearly seen sleeping on the wheel, while his co-passenger sleeps on the passenger seat as well. As per Randall, he tried to wake up the sleeping driver by honking for about 45 seconds, after which he sped up and left the car behind.
Real or hoax?
Tesla users have been known to fake such incidents, mostly just to observe the reaction of Tesla¡¯s Autopilot. They create the false impression that they are asleep and notice if the car reads it and tries to wake them up or not. As per a statement by Tesla, its Autopilot gives out warning every 30 seconds or less if it does not detect the driver's hands on the steering wheel.
Statement from @Tesla :. pic.twitter.com/bw2qhl4YzY
¡ª Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) September 10, 2019
Randall denies it in this case. He says, ¡°this was no hoax, at least not on my part. Maybe the people in the car were faking being asleep, but I'm skeptical."
Is Autopilot to blame?
For those unaware, Tesla Autopilot is the vehicle¡¯s self-driving (autonomous) system that is meant to assist drivers with on-road decisions. These include cruising at constant speeds, lane changing, parking assist and more. The big clause, however, is that the driver¡¯s have to be attentive throughout, which is also because by law, a human driver is always required behind the wheel.
The self-driving feature has been a cause of much controversy though. Earlier, some incidents came to life wherein the vehicles, allegedly on Autopilot mode, were involved in fatal crashes. That is when the debate over autonomous driving gained momentum because, well, who is to blame in such crashes?
So naturally, companies offering such a feature in their vehicles make sure that the driver does not rely on the autonomous mode at all times. This is why Tesla cars start sending out visual and audio warnings to the driver in case it detects that the driver has fallen asleep while driving. Further, the cars navigate to the side of the road and come to a standstill if the driver does not wake up. In this case, this might have happened after Randall crossed the car.
A Tesla sedan is shown after it struck a parked Laguna Beach Police Department vehicle in Laguna Beach, California. (Representative Image: Reuters)
But many blame Tesla for the cause, as the availability of such a technology is said to instill overconfidence in drivers on the road, which ultimately leads to a careless driving on the human¡¯s part.
Though, if you think about it, there is a solid counter-argument to this. Every year, countless road accidents occur around the globe because of drivers falling asleep behind the wheel. In the case of this video, if the Autopilot mode was not on, the car would have slid left on its own and out of the highway, or might have just collided with another vehicle on the highway. In either case, had it not been for the Autopilot, the results could have been devastating. That is when the importance of an autonomous future on the roads is realised.
